First, he was Kyle’s brother.
Colin Luddy came to Patterson Mill as a still-growing freshman on a quest to live up to hefty accomplishments. Kyle Luddy was a 1,000 point scorer for the Huskies, now plays Division III basketball at Stevenson and is credited by Colin for sharpening his younger brother’s skills.
They never overlapped in high school, but Patterson Mill coach Jeroud Clark remembers watching a young Colin cheer on his brother from the bleachers. As Kyle set dozens of school records and led the Huskies on deep postseason runs, Colin often matched his brother’s energy from his seat.
Clark couldn’t wait to coach another Luddy. Now a junior, Colin has blossomed into one of Harford County’s top players and leads a Patterson Mill squad with championship aspirations. The Huskies opened their season Thursday with a 70-61 win over North Harford. Luddy enamored the crowd with ferocious dunks in pregame warmups before scoring 13 points in the victory.
No longer is Luddy in his brother’s shadow. He’s squarely in the spotlight.
“It’s time for me to create my own path,” he said. “Even though the last name is Luddy, I’m my own person.”
Clark has known the Luddys for nearly a decade and coached Kyle throughout his uber-successful high school career. He topped 1,000 career points despite having his junior year canceled by the pandemic. As a senior, he averaged 23 points per game and led the Huskies to the state semifinals.
Clark estimates Kyle set 17 career and single-season Patterson Mill records. Still, Colin feels he found the right balance between admiration and emerging from underneath that large shadow.
“Kyle was such a strong, dominant personality, and Colin’s so proud of his older brother,” Clark said. “It’s almost like, ‘Hey, I am Kyle’s younger brother, and I’m not shy about it. I have no problem with you calling me that.’”
One year after Kyle graduated, Colin joined the varsity squad as a freshman already familiar with Clark and the program his sibling helped establish as a perennial threat. But it took time for Luddy to settle in. Reminiscing now, he admits he played timid his first year — afraid to shoot, speak up or make mistakes. His mindset flipped during his sophomore season.
“If I’m open, I’m gonna shoot it,” Luddy said. “There was no pressure. I feel like I lived up to what I had to do.”
Patterson Mill is a young team this season, Clark said, with few seniors and a freshman. Luddy is one of the group’s most experienced players.
Thursday was his first taste of that new role. North Harford started slow but used an explosive second quarter to get within one at halftime. The Hawks found their largest lead of the game in the third quarter to scare Patterson Mill further, but the Huskies’ last-minute burst put them ahead, 54-51, entering the fourth.
They pulled away late to win by nine and pass the early-season test.
“I have to take a big role this year in leadership,” Luddy said. “Communicating, talking on defense, just having us build every day in practice to get to where we want to be.”
And where is that?
“To put a banner up,” Luddy said as he pointed to the many championship flags that adorn the walls of Patterson Mill’s gym. “Win states.”
If he does that, Luddy will reach heights his brother came up just short of. Nights in this same gym as an eighth grader watching Kyle gave him glimpses of the role he’ll be expected to fill this season.
The younger Luddy, having already broken out and on the precipice of another leap, is already carving his own path. Now, he’s Colin.
Have a news tip? Contact Taylor Lyons at tlyons@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/TaylorJLyons.
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